Google's CEO Sundar Pichai opened the event and talked at length about the company's vision for an "AI first world," using Google Assistant as an example. Originally announced at Google I/O in May, Pichai says Google Assistant will help "build a personal Google for each and every user." He then kept up his AI preamble by mentioning AlphaGO, a DeepMind AI that beat the world's greatest Go player, and how the company has made huge strides in image recognition, translation, and machine learning in just three months.

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"It is early days but we've committed to this mission," Pichai said. "But it's equally important to get it into the hands of our users, and that's what today is about."

Pixel and Pixel XL

That brings us to today's two big headliners—the 5-inch Pixel and 5.5-inch Pixel XL smartphones, which are the descendants of Google's popular Nexus phone lineup. Unlike Nexus phones of days past, these dual Pixel phones have more "Google" in them than any device before them. Presented by Google's hardware guru Rick Osterloh, Pixel is the first phone to have Google Assistant "built in," and has improved photography, storage, communications, and also comes with VR support.

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The most noticeable change to your standard Android operating system is the quick access tab to Google's new Assistant, tucked away in the top left corner. This shortcut essentially brings up a super-smart, Google-powered chatbot that's designed to be your digital personal assistant. Much like Google Now or Siri, Assistant works best with voice dictation (which seemed pretty accurate though there were some translation hiccups during the demo) but can also work just like a normal text message conversation. Essentially, Google is funneling all the power behind its search engine into Google Assistant to hopefully make your life easier.

Next, the camera. Google says its camera is the best ever made—no exceptions. Yes, it's supposedly even better than that fancy new iPhone 7. The phones come with 12.3-megapixel camera and f/2.0 aperture. They also come baked with some of Google's image recognition smarts with Smartburst, which lets you take a burst of photos and the software will automatically select the best one. Google also says its camera has the fastest shutter time of any other smartphone camera. Google's Pixel also includes impressive video stabilization and users also get free unlimited storage for videos and images at full resolution.

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As for battery life, the Pixel comes with quick charging, like most top-tier phones these days. It has different three colors—"quite black," "very silver," and "really blue." The phones will start at $650 and are available for pre-order today on the Google Store.

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Virtual Reality

Where artificial intelligence might be the future of productivity, VR is perceived as the future of entertainment. Google's VR team grabbed some stage time updating us on Daydream—its platform built for smartphone-based VR. Of course, if you need to strap a phone to your face, you're going to need a headset.

Enter: Daydream View. Instead of making a plastic headset, of which there are several, Google worked with clothing designers for a "cozy" headset. View can fit all kinds of faces—even if you have glasses, and it's also easy to use. You open a latch, drop the phone, and close the latch. Done.

Google then started running with this "easy" theme, digging into the VR headset's dedicated controller. The small little controller only has two buttons, sensors and gyroscopes for accurately tracking movement, and storage in the headset so you don't lose the damn thing in the couch.

If you're into the headset but not so much the Pixel phones, it'll be compatible with future Daydream-ready smartphones from other Android phone makers.

Google spent some time looking at VR applications for Daydream, ranging from Harry Potter apps, star-gazing maps, and first-person VR gaming. Streaming apps like Netflix, which is already available on VR platforms like Gear VR, will also be a part of the Daydream platform.

Of course, there are also big benefits to being Google. Daydream will have come with YouTube, Street View, and lots of other Google apps. Daydream View and the controller will be available in November for $80, which is pretty cheap considering the Samsung's headset is also considered super cheap at $100. It comes in three colors—"slate," "snow," and "crimson."

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Google Wi-fi and Chromecast Ultra

Building on last year's OnHub router, Google created Google Wi-fi. Despite the name, Google Wi-fi is basically just a mesh network, a wi-fi system that's recently been explored by startups like Luma and Eero and more traditional router titans like Netgear. Essentially, multiple access points blanket your home in wi-fi and help eliminate dead zones. Like Luma, Google will be selling this new system in a three-pack for $300 (if you need it). You can buy an individual router at $130.

Google also had another little update for one of its most popular pieces of hardware. Chromecast Ultra essentially works like an old Chromecast but is 1.8x faster and can support 4K, HDR, and Dolby Vision. Of course, you'd have to have the appropriate TV in order to take advantage of these extras. But these improvements come with a small bump in price with Chromecast Ultra costing $70, double the price of its current TV dongle.

Google Home

The last gadget in Google's bold excursion in to the smart home is Google Home, the company's attempt to develop an Amazon Echo competitor. We heard a lot of details about Google Home during Google I/O in May, but Google gave some more real-world demoes this time around.

Google's weaved in some added conveniences, like setting default apps so you don't have to keep saying app names in sentences like "Ok, Google. Play Lou Reed on Spotify" over and over and over. Google also accesses the knowledge graph, pulling "snippets" from websites to help provide answers to more complex questions.

Google Home also gives you daily briefings in the morning, pushing time, weather, and traffic information. It can keep track of shopping lists and also integrates with other smart home devices, like Nest, SmartThings, Phillips, IFTTT, as well as other Google hardware like Chromecast. Integrating with Chromecast, you can voice dictate directly to your television sans remote. Streaming services like YouTube will also support voice casting directly from Google Home, and Netflix will add the feature later this year.

Google Home will go for $130 with a six-month free trial of YouTube Red. It will be available for pre-order today on the Google Store, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target, and will start shipping on November 4th.

Although today was Google's "hardware" event, it's clear that Google Assistant is the big piece of news. Google has plans for Assistant to be the "next big open platform" for Google, and that people who are building the latest and greatest gadget down to garage tinkerers armed with a Raspberry Pi will be able to take advantage. It's a necessary piece of the company's ultimate dream—Google everywhere.